


To the girl who's afraid of the sky

by akibandakuman



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Final Fantasy VII
Genre: 23 wishes 89 letters, F/M, Freeform, Gen, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1743104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akibandakuman/pseuds/akibandakuman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor remembers his promise to Zack Fair about a girl who's afraid of the sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To the girl who's afraid of the sky

**23 Wishes, 89 Letters*  
** _To the girl who’s afraid of the sky_

          He had recently been promoted to first-class SOLDIER when he meets the Doctor and Rose Tyler. And he remembers them so vividly because they were probably the oddest pair he had ever met in Midgard.

          Zack was on his way back to ShinRa, when he saw the pair of them being attacked by a couple of Worms in the slums.

          It didn’t take a genius to realize that the Doctor hated him for killing the creatures (He kept on inspecting the cadavers with a weird stick object that had a light on one of its end and made a strange buzzing noise [“It’s called a sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor mutters as he pokes at the goo-like fluid oozing from the creature’s sides]).

          “The name’s Zack Fair,” he introduces himself.

          “Rose Tyler,” the blonde smiles at him before introducing her companion, “and that’s the Doctor.”

          “Doctor?” Zack furrows his brows.

          “Just the Doctor,” the man in the blue suit sighs as he stands up and eyes him warily. “You’re a SOLDIER, aren’t you?” It came out more of a statement than a question.

          “Yessir!” Zack grins, “Zack Fair, first-class SOLDIER.”

          “I don’t like soldiers,” the Doctor says, glaring at the sword strapped on Zack’s back.

          “I think,” Rose interjects, “you should say ‘thank you’ to someone who just saved our lives.” She turns back to Zack and thanks him before nudging the Doctor to say his part. “Anyway, we should really get going. It was nice meeting you, Zack.”

          “You too,” he grins, watching the two get swallowed by the crowd.

          The third time they meet is at the playground in the slums.

          “Doctor,” he greets and sees how much a person can age and still look the same. The Doctor looked tired and weary, as if he had lost – He chokes when he remembers the blonde companion the Doctor had during their first meeting. “Where’s Rose?” He asks, and gets a wry smile in reply.

          “Safe.”

          It sounded as if the Doctor was trying to convince himself of Rose’s safety than Zack. So, the first class SOLDIER let the man mourn in silence as he sat beside him.

          “Will you be alright?” he asks.

          “I...,” for the first time, the Doctor is lost for words (he always had something to say when he was with Rose), “I need to be.”

          The fifth time they meet, the Doctor brings with him a feisty woman named Donna Noble. They were in LOVELESS Avenue, off to see the rendition of the play. He hangs around them for a while, and wonders why Donna looks at him differently –  sadly, as if something was wrong.

          “We’re going to Nibelheim,” Zack tells them and almost misses the look of horror in Donna’s face.

          “Oh?” the Doctor feigns surprise. “What’s in Nibelheim?”

          Looking back, he should’ve seen the signs.

          He was met with an army and he barely managed to protect Cloud from getting hurt. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he swung his broad sword over his enemies, knocking them down one by one. But, sheer willpower and adrenaline were not enough.

          A shadow enters his field of vision, slightly blocking his view of the sky and he manages to stay awake even for a while.

          “Can you do me a favour, Doc?” He rasps, tears falling at the side of his face mixing with dirt and blood. It’s weird, seeing the Doctor with a different face (a much younger face but with wise old eyes), but for some reason he knows that he is still the Doctor.

          “Anything.”

          Zack doesn’t close his eyes, fearing he’ll never manage to open them again. “There’s this girl... who’s afraid of the sky,” memories flood his mind, “she tends to the flowers at the church in Midgard.” His lungs were burning and his heart was aching, but he knew _she_ deserved to know. “Can you tell her... that I love her?”

          The Doctor gives him the saddest of all smiles, “Oh Zack—“

          “Please.” He tries to reach out for him, but his vision is getting blurry. “She deserves to know...”

          “I will.”

*

          When the Doctor and Donna meet Aerith Gainsborough (the girl who’s afraid of the sky), they learn of the 89 letters she wrote for Zack during his four years of absence. She tells him about the flower wagon they built together – about the 23 wishes summed into one. And she goes on and on, until the sky grows dark (or at least the Doctor knows it has gotten very, very late.)

          She cries at some point, but the Doctor lets her continue with her stories.

          “He wanted to tell you that he loves you very much,” the Doctor tells her.

          “I know,” Aerith gives him a watery smile. “He should’ve told me himself.”

*

          Zack manages to keep his eyes open, when he hears an odd sound (It sounded like a mixture of a roaring engine and a roaring Behemoth). His breathing is getting shallow, and he thinks he’s hallucinating when he sees the woman of his dreams staring at him (Why is she crying?).

          “Is this heaven?” he asks.  

          Aerith holds his hand, “Not quite,” she says.

 


End file.
